bad

If the question is who can turn Amancio Ortega into his personal tailor, we already have an answer: Bad Bunny

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The launch of the joint capsule between the Galician giant Inditex and the Puerto Rican artist marks an unprecedented milestone in the industry. This long-awaited collection of 150 pieces, baptized as “BENITO ANTONIO”has landed this May 21 just in time to become the official uniform of his imminent I SHOULD TAKE MORE PHOTOS Tour for Spain. If the videos of “Get Ready With Me” (GRWM) flooded the networks looking for the perfect look for Rosalía’s concerts, with Bad Bunny the phenomenon will be very different. Given its 12 dates in Spain and 600,000 tickets sold, the stylistic dilemma has already been resolved in one fell swoop. As explained esquire, this capsule is not the typical merchandising on tour, but a democratization of the artist’s closet. There is no longer a need to invent or imitate your style: now your followers can directly wear your same aesthetic universe and street sensibility. Behind the alliance. Far from being a simple commercial move, choosing a security firm fast fashion to dress a global superstar hides a deep social message. Bad Bunny launches a declaration of rebellion against the inaccessible standards of the industry: good taste and style go beyond spending thousands of dollars on luxury brands. This phenomenon has been baptized by experts as a true “change of power.” As Professor Andrew Groves points out from the University of Westminster, wearing a Zara suit to events the size of the Super Bowl or the MET Gala conveys authority, but “that authority comes from Bad Bunny’s cultural standing, not a luxury house’s seal of approval.” The message beyond. Beyond fashion, the message is sociological and political. Choosing Zara (a Spanish brand with global reach) for the Super Bowl halftime or the MET Gala, an event historically dominated by Anglo-Saxon culture, was a declaration of intent. Bad Bunny uses his influence to tell the world that the Latin and working class identity no longer needs to ask permission or dress in Parisian haute couture to sit at the table of the most powerful. With this on the table, Inditex has not limited itself to hiring the face of a celebrity for a seasonal campaign. The final result shows that it was the artist himself who has adapted all of Zara’s machinery to his universe, his instinct and his identity. Strengthening the Galician firm as its head. The construction of this alliance has been a careful chess game designed over the last few months, evidencing Marta Ortega’s firm intention to strengthen her brand in the US market under the concept of fast couture or “affordable luxury”: The first advertisement in Super Bowl LX: In February, Benito performed before more than 100 million viewers wearing a tailored outfit (bespoke) cream color designed by the Spanish firm. Zara preferred intangible prestige to mass sales, refusing to commercialize the design, although it did have a close gesture by giving away exact replicas of the garment to the workers at its headquarters in Arteixo. The transformation at the Met Gala 2026: The next coup de effect It happened at the so-called fashion Oscars. The Puerto Rican braved the red carpet with a black double-breasted tuxedo custom made by Zara. The suit, sober and elegant, gave all the attention to a hyperrealistic makeup with prosthetics created by Mike Marino, which added “53 years” to the artist to adapt to the theme of the event about the aging body and discuss the social fear of mortality. He teaser by Marta Ortega: To confirm the rumors of the collection in an organic way, the president of Inditex herself wore it at the Longines Global Champions Tour in Madrid a new green cap with the embroidery “Benito Antonio”, advancing the news before the official statement. The soul of Puerto Rico spun into 150 garments. Developed side by side with its creative director Janthony Oliveras, the collection completely escapes tropical caricature. The specialized newspapers agree in praising the authenticity of the proposal, highlighting a design and aesthetics that, as it points esquiremoves between relaxed tailoring, artisanal textures, a great weight of color and basic garments oversizeideal for withstanding the heat of the imminent concerts. Added to this careful preparation is a rich graphic imagery created together with the prestigious M/M Paris studio. The visual identity of the clothing takes direct references from urban infrastructure, electric poles and everyday elements of the streets of San Juan, a decision that should not be interpreted as an exoticization of the Caribbean, but as a demonstration of a deep sense of belonging. Finally, as a definitive detail of loyalty to its roots, L’Officiel remember that Zara decided completely redesign its Plaza Las Américas store in San Juan, Puerto Rico, turning it into an immersive space to debut this capsule exclusively with its compatriots before making the final leap to the rest of the world. A commercial and identity milestone. With this collection, Zara and Bad Bunny have not only signed the most astute agreement of the year, but they have changed the rules of musical fashion. When thousands of fans fill the Metropolitan Stadium dressed in ‘Benito Antonio’ ​​basics, it will be demonstrated that the luxury of our era is not exclusivity, but the ability to make an entire stadium dress with your own identity. Image | Zara Xataka | Zara dressed Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl. That says much more about Zara’s plans than about Bad Bunny

One more day, Marcos Llorente wants to convince you not to use sunscreen. One more day, we know it’s a bad idea

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In 2026, we are not going to discover Marcos Llorente. Not just because it is an old acquaintance of the Spanish public conversation: midfielder for Atlético de Madrid, Instagrammer with more than two million followers and owner of an enormous amount of pseudoscientific (and, above all, very dangerous) ideas on health issues. But because the large media groups are already in charge of ensuring that it does not go unnoticed. Last night, in the Hormiguero, he repeated again verbatim his usual speech against sunscreen. It is true that Pablo Motos confronted him with data from the Spanish Academy of Dermatologybut Llorente got away without a problem, questioning the studies and maintaining that “many dermatologists and health professionals defend this lifestyle. It is simply having a coherent relationship with the sun.” This, of course, it’s a lie. But we are talking about a serious topic and, for that reason, it is worth returning to it. A “coherent” relationship with the sun? On the one hand, The Skin Cancer Foundation estimates that 86% of melanomas and 90% of other skin cancers are associated with UV radiation. On the other hand, the AEDV maintains that “a significant portion of sun damage accumulates before the age of 20.” In this sense, having TikTok star footballers defending that chemical protection is useless is extremely dangerous. Above all, because it is not (far from it) the first time he has defended it. And we must not forget that, every year, more than a thousand people die from cutaneous melanoma. A misconception, but a very widespread one. Because we must not forget that, as José María Ricart explained to usdermatologist and medical director of the Ricart Medical Institute (IMR), “many people still believe in the idea of ​​a ‘healthy tan’, when in reality it is a sign of skin damage.” Sometimes we have the feeling that sunbathing without protection is little more than simple carelessness; but no: it is a practice that accelerates skin aging and increases the risk of skin cancer. We focus on the most well-known rays, but not the most insidious ones. As Ricart explainedit is important to know well the two types of ultraviolet radiation that can affect us. On the one hand, UVB rays, more powerful in summer, are those that cause sunburn and damage cellular DNA. On the other hand, UVA rays, present all year round, even on cloudy days, penetrate more deeply and are responsible for premature aging. It’s time to stop seeing melanin as a “biological protection” and tanning as something positive. They are not. Tan “is nothing more than a defensive response of the body. It is its way of saying: ‘I am damaging myself’. If anyone still doubts this, compare the skin of the face with that of the buttock, an area never exposed to the sun: without spots, without wrinkles, without photoaging,” explained the dermatologist. What is happening? let there be people deciding not to apply sunscreen going tan is problematic (and bad news for your dermatological health); But the fact that large media groups have no problems with bringing these types of ideas to ‘prime time’ is absurd. Because it is worth remembering that, despite the fact that he presented it as a debate, what was done yesterday in Hormiguero is advertise personal opinion of a footballer against the consensus of the AEDV, the WHO, the SEOM and the Ministry of Health. The mere idea of ​​calling it ‘debate’ is a mistake. Image | The Anthill Xataka | That the AEMPS withdraws six sunscreens is good news. That the OCU had to ask for it is worrying

Spain has broken records in youth employment. The bad news is that one in three unemployed people is already over 50 years old

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Unemployment in Spain has been chaining months of good news. In April, the number of unemployed fell to 2,357,044 people, falling below 2.4 million for the first time since June 2008. The story, seen from afar, is that of a labor market that has finally left its worst unemployment figures behind. However, that story has a blind spot. When the data is broken down by age, the initial optimism gives way to reality: the labor market is improving, yes, but not for everyone equally. The workers over 45 years they continue to fall behind, and the latest data of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) confirm it. Senior unemployment is close to 60% of the total. Of the slightly less than 2.35 million unemployed counted in April 2026 in Spain, 1,376,550 unemployed were 45 years old. This represents 58.4% of all registered unemployment. In other words, six out of ten unemployed They are over 45 years old. The bad news doesn’t end there. Within this group of people over 45, one in three unemployed people is already over 50 years old. To put into perspective what that percentage implies, we must compare it with what happened in the same month among those under 25 years of age. Youth unemployment has improved its percentages with a drop of 10.2%, with 19,284 fewer young people on the SEPE lists. If we return to the data for those over 45 years of age, we find that only 19,990 people in this age group they found a job, but in this case the decrease has only meant a drop of 1.43%. That is, given the progressive aging of the active population in Spain, those over 45 years of age are the largest group, so although the number of people who have found employment are very similar, the weight as a whole is very different. Less unemployed, but more chronic unemployment. At the end of the first quarter of 2026, the segment of those over 55 years of age was close to 4.93 million employed people. This represents 22% of all workers in the country, with 242,500 more people than a year before. These are figures that reflect that, on the one hand, the active population is increasingly older and, on the other hand, he is retiring later and remains in the labor market for longer. The second bad news for those over 45 years of age is that those who lose their job at that age have enormous difficulties in recovering it. In March 2026, those under 25 years of age signed 308,094 contracts, compared to the 367,204 signed by the group over 45, which doubles the percentage of the active population in number. That leaves us with one conclusion: senior hiring is proportionally tiny. He Labor Market Report for People over 45 years of age 2026 prepared by the SEPE, indicates that this group will exceed 11 million employed during 2025, more than 50% of the total number of workers. Even so, this massive presence in existing employment does not translate into the same rate of access to new opportunities. This is an indicator that the barriers to the reintegration of those over 45 into the labor market continue to be insurmountable. once you lose your job. Proof of this is that 53% of the 755,500 unemployed people over 50 have been looking for a job for more than a year without finding it. Youth unemployment breaks its own record. The scenario for those under 25 years of age is diametrically opposite. unemployment among those under 25 years of age It closed April 2026 at 24.53% with a total of 169,693 people, the lowest figure in the entire SEPE historical series. In year-on-year terms, it represents a drop of 14.2% compared to April of last year, when there were 197,674 young people unemployed. A decade ago, in 2015, the youth unemployment rate in Spain stood at 44.4%. This sustained decline has no equivalent in any other age group, which makes youth employment one of the great successes of the Spanish labor market in recent years. In aging it is a determining factor. As the data show, age defines large differences in the impact of unemployment between the different segments of the active population, but this differentiation also means that unemployment punishes some communities more than others, with a special impact on emptied Spainwhere young people have moved to the large industrial hubs. By province, Zamora stands out strikingly because more than 62% of its unemployed are over 45 years old. Pontevedra and La Coruña also present very aging unemployment structures. In Xataka | There is a man who has been working for the same company for 85 years. And he has no plans to retire. Image | Unsplash (Hasan Mrad)

All experts agree that introducing bison into Spain is a bad idea. And yet we’re doing it

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Nine European bison have been grazing for four months in the Guadalajara municipality of El Recuenco, in the heart of the Alto Tajo. And the only really relevant question is why. I mean, we know why. They are there because the Rewilding Spain foundation and the town council itself have placed them in what has become the first case of bison in public forests in Spain. In fact, as long as we pay attention to what its promoters say, it is not only a renaturalization initiative, it is “a tool against forest fires.” The thing is, none of that explains why anyone thinks any of this makes sense. There have never (as far as we know) been European bison in Spain. Yes, yes. I know that one of the most iconic Spanish images is that of the painted bison of Altamira, but that animal was not a Bison bonasuswas a Bison priscus. A species that became extinct 9,000 years ago just when the habitat (the mammoth steppe) that welcomed it did. There is no conclusive paleontological evidence to say that there was ever a European bison on the peninsula. In fact, in 2020, MITECO commissioned a report that unanimously denied that this animal could be defined as an “extinct species in Spain”. Does that mean that it is proven that there was not? No, one thing does not imply the other. At any time we can find remote proof that there were. In fact, in February 2026 was announced that a skeleton about 4,000 years old had been found in Navarra that could be from a Bison bonasus. It is a matter of time before a genetic test confirms it (or not). Be that as it may, no one seems to care: the nine bison are in Guadalajara. And there are up to two doctoral theses that will examine fecal samples, stress levels and diet to study the adaptability of these animals and their effect on vegetation. The latter is interesting because, as I said, the second objective of all this has to do with vegetation. With its control and management. There it is, despite the skepticism of many expertswhere there may be a future. But it is not a simple future. To begin with, because the species cannot be the subject of an official reintroduction program. The nine specimens from El Recuenco (and the other 160 in the country) are not protected wildlife, but are classified as livestock or zoological nucleus. This requires them to be controlled, geolocated and monitored. But, above all, that forces us to ask ourselves many things and “do we have any capacity to control our country?” It is perhaps the most important. For years, people have been releasing beavers into the main Spanish rivers without anything happening. What’s more, in Spain have been detected more than 200 invasive species. The debate is not ‘bison yes or bison no’. Above all, because it is not a strictly Spanish debate. The United Kingdom reintroduced bison to Kent, the Netherlands did it decades ago… European rewilding is being done, to a large extent, outside the usual channels of conservation. And El Recuenco is just the local version of a deeper debate: that of what nature we want to exist in the future. Image | Oskar Jablonski In Xataka | We are reforesting Europe with trees that will not survive by 2100. If pests don’t kill them, climate change will.

1,800 years ago the Romans had an amulet against bad luck. It was literally a tiny penis.

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Measures about three centimetersis cast in bronze with great detail (anatomical) and despite being around 1,800 years old, it is surprisingly well preserved. We talk about a phallus. A penis. An ancient figurine representing male genitalia that archaeologists have just unearthed in a roman site from Cumbria, in the northwest of England. The most curious thing, however, is not the appearance of the penile statuette itself. But that it took so long for researchers to find it. We explain ourselves. Under a cricket pitch. He Carlisle Cricket Club is a large resort for cricket lovers located on the outskirts of the town of Carlise, in Cumbria, England. That’s today, of course. If we go back almost 20 centuries to that same land, located on the banks of the eden riverwelcomed some hot springs where the Romans came to chat and relax. Years ago a group of archaeologists started investigating in the area to search for remains of that remote Roman past. Among the many things they recovered at the site, in addition to ceramics, fragments of pillars and heads sculpted in stone, there is one that has attracted attention: a penis. What do you mean, a penis? The figurine in question revealed it a few weeks ago the photographer Pete Savin in And archaeologists believe that the piece has some 1,800 years. It would be logical to think that Savin or the director of the site, Frank Giecco, raised their eyebrows when they encountered such a discovery. However, the opposite happened: what had surprised them for some time was not finding any phallic figurines among the Roman ruins of Carlisle. “It is unusual that we have not found a phallus-shaped object at the site before, as it is very rich in other types of objects,” admits Giecco to the BBC. Don’t say penis… No, say best amuletwhich is the function fulfilled by the figurine found in Cumbria. The researchers they are convinced that its purpose was not to simply represent a penis and the piece did not have an obscene or sexual nature either. It was not even a symbol of fertility. At least that wasn’t his main goal. For the Romans the device surely acted as a talismana protective tool designed to attract good luck and ward off the evil eye. The Romans were so convinced of the healing power of these phallic representations that they frequently resorted to them, either by capturing them in figurines that they would then hang from their belts and use as jewelry or by carving them on the walls. Click on the image to go to the tweet. A phallus for the collection. The truth is that you have to take a quick look through the newspaper archive to see that discoveries like the one in Cumbria are relatively frequent. Even in England. Or in Cumbria itself. In 2019 a group of archaeologists from the University of Newcastle cataloged there several inscriptions left by Roman soldiers in a quarry near Hadrian’s Wall, a series of ‘graffiti’ drawn on the rock in 207 AD and including (exactly!) the relief of a phallus. Last year another team focused on Vindolandaone of the Roman forts that protected Hadrian’s Wall, encountered another similar surprise. During their excavations they located a penis-shaped pendant hidden among the challenges of a wall from the 4th AD. Archaeologists speculate that the piece, made of jet, was lost at the beginning of that same century. And given how polished its surface is, they believe that the owner of the amulet handled it frequently. Small, big, huge. Carlise’s piece barely exceeds three centimeters and Vindolanda’s (at least for the photos shared by researchers) appears even smaller. However, not all representations were so minuscule. In 2022, while investigating a site in the province of Córdoba, archaeologists discovered a bas-relief that shows a 45 centimeter phallus long. The figure was carved directly on the cornerstone of a large building, another relatively common habit. “It was common to place them on the facades of houses and soldiers wore small phallic amulets as symbols of virility,” explains to The Country Andrés Rodlán, director of the project, although he also recognizes that Córdoba engraving breaks the mold. “This one is unusually large.” The list of phallic representations found in recent years goes on and on, with discoveries stretching from the distant lands of Britannia. to Omritin Israel. Why this obsession? The experts believe that phallic figures were so popular not because of their explicit nature, but because of their enormous load of meanings. Whoever carried a figurine of a penis or decided to sculpt it on their wall did not simply intend to show a male genital. He sought to protect himself with an amulet capable of warding off the evil eye. In fact, they not only surrounded themselves with images of more or less anatomically accurate penises. They also created figurines of winged phalluseswith animal shapes or with bells. “Phallic emblems are found on a wide variety of Roman objects, from amulets and frescoes to mosaics and lamps. They were symbols intended to attract good luck and ward off evil spirits. As the ancient author Pliny attests, even babies and soldiers wore such amulets to invoke divine protection,” they explain from the MET Museum. The reality is that, if history has shown anything, it is that humanity has always shown a fascinating inclination to represent penises everywhere. Images | The MET Museum and Carole Radatto (Flickr) In Xataka | Almost 2,000 years ago a Celtiberian soldier visited the most remote frontier of the Roman Empire. Then he returned to Soria with a souvenir

It’s bad news for Google

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If the question is which AI makes better images, the general answer would be Google’s Nano Banana 2. And if we talk about preparing reports rigorously, we would probably say that Claude is the one who takes the lead. But in the AI ​​race, just as important as being the best is appearing to be the best. And above all, make money with your model. And if the arrival of artificial intelligence to the labor market has felt like an earthquake in the shape of more or less related layoffs, barriers to entry to junior profiles and have to work more Against all odds, the reality is that in recent months the scenario of which AI is the favorite of companies has taken a turn. Visual Capitalist has published a graph that monitors month by month from January 2023 to March 2026 what percentage of US companies pay for each provider’s models. To prepare it, they used anonymized spending data from more than 50,000 companies on the platform. ramptaking only paid subscriptions, so free use is left out. The result is a clear picture of consolidation: the market is shrinking towards very few players at breakneck speed. The graph marks a clear winner from the start: OpenAI is the most widespread payment AI provider among US companies, reaching a share of 35.2% in March of this year. Just behind is Anthropic with a share of 30.6%. You have to look down a lot to find the others: Google, xAI and the rest of the providers are below 5%. But the most important thing when looking at the photo is not who the leader is but the trend: Anthropic’s is a meteoric rise. What AI model are companies paying for? The market closes and It only has room for two: OpenAI and Anthropic together account for nearly 66% of the AI ​​business payment market in the United States, meaning that two out of every three dollars that companies spend on AI models go to these two companies. The rest share the crumbs. This type of concentration is the fish that bites its tail: leading companies have more customers, more usage data and more resources to improve their products, so their pursuers have it increasingly difficult, although it is true that Google has muscle for a while. What AI models are companies paying for? Visual Capitalist with Ramp data January 2025 is a key date in the graph: OpenAI was present in 16.8% of companies and Anthropic barely had 4.1%, slightly below Google’s 4.2% share. In 14 months Anthropic has multiplied its presence sevenfold, while OpenAI has doubled it and Google has 4.3%. The takeoff coincides with the launch of Claude Code in February 2025, its scheduling assistant that became general availability in May of that year, and accelerates with the arrival of Cowork in January 2026, its workflow platform. That Claude be a rocket The graph has several explanations. Yes, it’s a good AI model, but Anthropic has been able to build concrete tools around that model that companies use every day and that make it difficult to switch vendors. According to Sacra estimatesas of October 2025, Anthropic had more than 300,000 business clients that represented approximately 80% of its revenue, which shows that those at Amodei were clear about their strategy from the beginning: their niche is the company and not so much the ordinary user. Google has been oscillating between 3 and 4.5% in business share for three years, a marginal advance compared to the budding duopoly and the investment made. Elon Musk’s xAI has gone from zero to 1.9% in March 2026, which means appearing on the map, but still very far from the competition. But the case of Google is the one that truly baffles: It has cutting-edge technology, one of the most powerful cloud infrastructures in the world and access to an amount of data like never before, but it doesn’t get companies to open their wallets. Everything indicates that the problem is in how it has packaged its products: dispersed among too many brands and platforms, which creates real confusion for the business customer. In Xataka | If the question is which of the big tech companies is winning the AI ​​race, the answer is: none In Xataka | The US’s problem in the AI ​​and humanoid race is not China: it is all of Asia and it is greatly disadvantaged Cover | Visual Capitalist

Mistral has a new AI model. The good news is that it is absolutely European; the bad one, which is absolutely mediocre

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The French startup Mistral has just launched Mistral Medium 3.5an open-weight AI model that is the great European exponent in an industry absolutely dominated by China—which competes directly with this type of projects—and by the US. And if this is the best they can do, it seems Europe has a problem. Mediocre. This is a “dense” model with 128 billion parameters and a context window of 256,000 tokens. While models with Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture only activate a subset of the total parameters to achieve enviable efficiency and capacity, Mistral activates them all. That makes it much less efficient, but theoretically it should make its performance promising. And that’s the problem. Which it is not. Benchmarks. Pedro Domingos, professor of deep learning at the University of Washington, he expressed it very well: “Mainstream AI companies brag about how their model is much better in benchmarks. Soo Mistral brags about how their model is much worse.” It is true that the models with which it is compared are larger in total number of parameters, but as we will see later, even taking that into account, they are cheaper and theoretically more efficient thanks to the use of that MoE architecture in many of them. The model, however, unifies the previous catalog and follows the market trend of being able to establish the desired level of reasoning (reasoning_effort) as a parameter. Bad results. And he is somewhat right: Mistral does not seem to have problems showing the results of various benchmarks in which it performs poorly, but it also performs poorly with models that are by no means the most recent or powerful on the market. Thus, it is compared with Claude Sonnet 4.5/4.6, with Kimi K2.5, with GLM-5.1 or with Qwen 3.5 397B. In almost all cases (except GLM 5.1) there are already more recent and powerful versions of all of them. Not so far from local models. In fact Medium 3.5 scored 77.6% in SWE-Bench Verified, a programming test in which Qwen3.6-27b It reaches 72.4% with a fundamental difference: you can run it “for free” (with the appropriate hardware, and you paying the electricity bill) with a relatively affordable machine. More expensive (and somewhat more restrictive). If we use it via API, Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.5 per million output tokens. GLM-5.1 costs 1.4/4.4 respectively, and Kimi K2.5 costs 0.5/2.8 respectively. Its recent successor, Kimi K2.6, costs 0.95/4, and it is significantly better than Mistral being cheaper. There is a curious fact: Mistral uses a “modified MIT license” instead of the traditional Apache 2.0, and indicates that this model can be used commercially or non-commercially except for “high-income” companies. Chasing Anthropic. In addition to the model itself, the company has presented the so-called remote scheduling agents using Mistral Vibe CLI to, for example, send pull requests to GitHub in an automated way. It also has the so-called “Work Mode” in LeChat, allowing multi-step tasks to be managed autonomously. These are tools clearly intended to strengthen Mistral’s role as a base for scheduling agents, which is the path that has worked fantastically for Anthropic. Your advantage: being European. The only great strength of this model is that it has been developed by a European startup, and that gives it clear visibility at a time when many EU countries they talk about digital sovereignty. It is the only Western model that seems to want to compete with China in the field of open weight models, which is good news, but the truth is that in terms of performance it does not seem that the Mistral Medium 3.5 is going to perform competitively. The geopolitical security network. That, together with the fact that it costs more than its competitors, makes the decision to use it difficult unless for those who prioritize clearly that European origin. That is Mistral’s ace in the hole, and they are taking advantage of perfectly. The company has recently obtained financing to create data centers in Europe, and is nourished and fed by this new obsession with minimize dependency of North American Big Tech. In Xataka | The CEO of Mistral sends a message to Europe: the end of being the technological vassal of the United States

Two tourists from the US decided to free the lobsters from a bar in Italy. Environmentalists think it was a bad decision.

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In theory it was going to be a nice gesture, a kind of performance improvised idea with which to give an emotional touch to a holiday in the Mediterranean, but it has ended up becoming a blunder. A few days ago, while eating at a restaurant in Campania (Italy), two American tourists decided to rescue the dozen lobsters that were swimming in the local aquarium. They paid for them. They put them in a basin. They got into a taxi. And they traveled to a Tyrrhenian beach, where they released the crustaceans. Everything was fantastic if it weren’t for one small detail: what they did could be an environmental crime. Now they risk paying a considerable fine. The saying goes that hell is paved with good intentions. In the waters of the Tyrrhenian, Italy, good intentions have caused something else: a illegal release of lobsters. The event occurred a few days ago, when two tourists from Texas (mother and daughter) decided to crown their vacation in Naples with something that at first seemed an altruistic gesture: Pay for a dozen crustaceans condemned to die in a kitchen and then release them into the sea. Altruistic gesture or environmental crime? To understand the story you have to travel to the Mercato Pompeiano restaurant, in Campania, where a few days ago two Americans decided to try the local cuisine. So far nothing strange. The surprise came when they asked the waiter to sell them the dozen lobsters that were swimming in the aquarium, the typical display where customers can choose the seafood they want to be cooked for them. Their intention was not to feast on crustaceans, but to put the animals in a basin to release them into the sea. It was the daughter herself who was in charge of ‘fishing’ them out of the pond with a small net. Then, to the astonishment of the restaurant owners, the two tourists got into a taxi and traveled to the nearby beach of Castellammare di Stabia. Once there, the daughter rolled up her sleeves, approached the coastline where the waves were breaking, and went releasing one by one the lobsters that until recently looked at the diners of the Mercato Pompeiano with tongs held with ribbons. You don’t have to imagine it. The scene can be seen because the tourists themselves were in charge of recording everything in a video that has ended up going viral. In it you can see the daughter with the water up to her ankles, releasing the lobsters, while the mother immortalizes the scene with her cell phone. Some Italian media they need who were accompanied by a guide. “We want to take this memory to the United States. It has been beautiful, we are happy,” explains the mother, proud. The couple even sent a message to the restaurant owner. “Even if they only live a few more days, it was worth it. My mother has always wanted to do this when we saw lobsters in restaurants, but until now it has never been possible.” The video of the release soon spread like wildfire on social networks, where it provoked opposing reactions. There are those who applaud the gesture for its altruism. And there are those who consider it a nonsense with serious environmental consequences. @la.repubblica Have bought all the things that were in the restaurant’s aquarium. Salvandololi from the death and from the destiny indicated by the end of the meals in the menu. Due to Texan tourists arriving at Pompei from Texas, they are very happy to join the spiaggia of Castellammare di Stabia and have not been liberated in the sea. Terminata la missione salvezza hanno sent a message in English to the owner of the ristorante: “Grazie per avercelo permesso, se anche vivranno qualche giorno in più ne è valsa la pena. Mia mamma avrebbe semper voluto farlo quando abbiamo viewed le aragoste nei ristoranti, ma non è stato mai possibile.” Il fuoriprogramma nato quasi percaso, quanto le due Americane touriste hanno gli glistici nuotare nell’acquario accanto al tavolo dove era sedute a mangiare. This is the time to turn on one at a time with the light used in the chambers of the premises, fishing from the aquarium with per insertion in safety. Tutto ripreso con il cellulare dalla mamma: “Vogliamo porre a casa negli Usa il ricordo di questo avvenimento. È stato bello, siamo felici. Abbiamo regalato loro una ultima possibilità.” by Mariella Parmendola ♬ original audio – la.repubblica The reason? To the untrained eye, perhaps all lobsters look the same, but that is not the case. In the recording it can be seen that the lobsters that the tourists released into the waters of the Tyrrhenian are of the species Homarus americanus (American or Canadian), native to the northwest Atlantic and characterized by the brown tones of its shell, very different from the bluish color that usually identifies the European lobster. It is no surprise because the American variety is usually the one used by restaurants in the region. That small detail is important because in practice the Homarus americanus is considered an invasive species in the Mediterranean. Not only that. Animal releases, even if only a dozen specimens, as occurred in Castellammare di Stabia, require studies and careful prior planning. First because introducing species can alter the balance of ecosystems. Second, because it is not unusual for loose specimens to carry parasites or diseases that are lethal to the native fauna. As if the above were not enough, there are experts who warn that the lobsters released by the American tourists probably did not live much longer than they would have lasted in the restaurant’s aquarium. The reason? The water in the pond was probably kept at a lower temperature than that found on the beach of Castellammare di Stabia, so it is not unreasonable that they suffered. a lethal thermal shock. The worst of all is not that both tourists have found themselves involved in a bitter … Read more

DeepSeek V4 is here. It’s good news for efficiency and bad news for the myth

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DeepSeek has published its V4 model under MIT license, with notable improvements in code and architecture designed for Chinese chips. It has also admitted, in its own technical report, that it is three to six months behind leading Western models. For a laboratory that A little over a year ago the global narrative of AI changedthat is much more than a nuance. Why is it important. DeepSeek became a symbol in January 2025. Its moment shook the markets, questioned the logic of the American technology stock market and convinced half the world that China could compete head-to-head on the frontier of AI, at a fraction of the cost. It’s not that V4 destroys that story, but it does complicate it a bit. China’s most important laboratory in AI arrives with a model that its own engineers describe as a step, not a leap. The context. V4 has taken longer than expected to arrive. According to sector sources collected for 36KrDeepSeek suffered a serious training failure in mid-2025 while trying to migrate its infrastructure from NVIDIA to Huawei’s Ascend chips. Internal opinions on technical direction were not aligned, and the founder, Liang Wenfengimposed conditions that were difficult to execute. The result: months of delay and a model that, furthermore, is still not multimodal, postponed due to lack of computing capacity and cash. Between the lines. The most interesting thing about V4 is in its architecture. The model introduces TileLang, a domain-specific language that allows low-level code to be decoupled from CUDA (the NVIDIA standard) and compile it for different chips. It also incorporates MegaMoE, a kernel designed to reduce latency in expert parallelism that already runs on Ascend hardware. But V4 training has continued using NVIDIA GPUs. Independence is, for the moment, more of an aspiration than an accomplished fact. turning point. While DeepSeek looked inward, the Chinese market has been reorganizing itself without it: Doubaofrom ByteDance, has become the most downloaded chatbot in China. MiniMax and Z.ai They have gone public. Alibaba has achieved great adoption thanks to vertical applications. DeepSeek never wanted to build a consumer product, and the market hasn’t waited for it. The internal bill has also arrived: the laboratory has lost key talent to Tencent, ByteDance and Xiaomi in practically all areas. Liang Wenfeng refused to give up 20% to an unidentified large investor. And now, for the first time, DeepSeek opens an external funding round. Main loser? The narrative of open source Chinese as a real alternative to the Western closed model has taken a hit. A Qwen employee has told 36Kr that “the golden age of nonprofit AI development is over.” The big question. It’s whether DeepSeek can regain lost ground. That depends largely on Huawei, whose Ascend 950 promises to scale well with V4, but 750,000 units are equivalent, adjusted for quality, to a week of American production. The gap is not closed with ingenious architectures. It is closed with silicon. In Xataka | Companies around the world face an irresolvable dilemma: either they are with China or with the US, with both it is no longer possible Featured image | Solen Feyissa

Are we the bad guys in the movie?

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In the ‘Lord of the Rings’ universe, a palantir is the seer stone that Saruman uses to communicate with Sauron. The fact of having chosen this name for a company that is dedicated to mass surveillance It was already a declaration of intentions. After years of doing ethically questionable work, some employees are now beginning to wonder if they are the bad guys in the movie. Friends, realize. What is happening. They tell it in Wired. Since the beginning of Trump’s second term, Palantir has become a key player in the government’s anti-immigration policy. The company has signed contracts with ICE and its technology makes it possible to identify and deport immigrants in an irregular situation. In addition, it has been used in military operations such as the Iran war, in which a bombing that killed more than 100 children. This has caused an internal crisis, with some current and former employees concerned that the company has gone from “preventing abuse” to directly encouraging it. Why it is important. Palantir was founded after the 9/11 attacks, a context in which citizen surveillance was justified under the narrative of antiterrorism. Now, Palantir’s technology is being used to surveil its own citizens and is key in attacks that have resulted in fatalities. It’s not that they were little sisters of charity before, but lines are being crossed that are too red even for those who defended them. lin response to the company. Employee criticism began after the murder of Alex Pretti at the beginning of the year. Within a Slack channel, some employees began to question the company’s relationship with ICE. “In my opinion, ICE are the bad guys. I’m not proud that the company I enjoy working for so much is part of this,” one of them commented. Palantir responded by deleting the messages several days later, supposedly to prevent leaks. At the same time, the company began to organize question and answer sessions to address any doubts that may arise, as well as the possibility of learning more details under confidentiality contracts. For many employees this was an attempt to silence criticism rather than address it. The ideological turn. Alex Karp, CEO and co-founder of Palantir, He used to define himself as a socialist and defended Democratic candidates like Joe Biden. However, since 2024 he has become a key ally of Trump and his speech defends authoritarian policies. A few days ago he published a 22 point manifesto in X which has unleashed a wave of criticism for its nationalist and militarized ideas. This text also sparked a conversation on Slack, in which several employees were embarrassed that it had been published using the company’s official account and that several acquaintances had asked them about it. It will be yes. It is the short answer to the question that employees ask themselves and there are many indications that they are, indeed, the bad guys. They count in The Country that the company accumulates many accusations for not respecting human rights. Already in 2020 I warned him Amnesty International and the consulting firm MSCI gave it a score of 2 out of 10 in civil liberties. Peter Thiel, its founder, says openly who does not believe that “freedom and democracy are compatible.” What is striking is that, knowing the history of the company and the authoritarian ideas of its leaders, there are employees who still have doubts. In Xataka | Wall Street’s riskiest bet has its own name: Palantir, a castle in the air supported by AI promises

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